“I say,” said the Lieutenant, lowering his voice, “I nearly came a cropper when I spoke of that Russian affair before your friend.  I was thinking of—­ of—­ well, I wasn’t thinking of Miss Kempt—­”

“Oh, she never noticed anything,” said Dorothy hurriedly.  “You got out of that, too, very well.  I thought of telling her I had met you before while she and I were in New York together, but the opportunity never seemed—­ well, I couldn’t quite explain, and, indeed, didn’t wish to explain my own inexplicable conduct at the bank, and so trusted to chance.  If you had greeted me first tonight, I suppose”—­ she smiled and looked up at him—­ “I suppose I should have brazened it out somehow.”

“Have you been in New York?”

“Yes, we were there nearly a week.”

“Ah, that accounts for it.”

“Accounts for what?”

“I have walked up and down every street, lane and alley in Bar Harbor, hoping to catch a glimpse of you.  I have haunted the town, and all the time you were away.”

“No wonder the Captain frowns at you!  Have you been neglecting your duty?”

“Well, I have been stretching my shore leave just a little bit.  I wanted to apologize for talking so much about myself as we walked from the bank.”

“It was very interesting, and, if you remember, we walked farther than I had intended.”

“Were your friends waiting for you, or had they gone?”

“They were waiting for me.”

“I hope they weren’t cross?”

“Oh, no.  I told them I had been detained.  It happened not to be necessary to enter into details, so I was saved the task of explanation, and, besides, we had other interesting things to discuss.  This function on the cruiser has loomed so large as a topic of conversation that there has been little need of any other subject to talk about for several days past.”

“I suppose you must have attended many grander occasions than this.  Although we have endeavored to make a display, and although we possess a reasonably efficient band, still, a cruiser is not exactly designed for the use to which it is being put to-night.  We have many disadvantages to overcome which are not met with in the sumptuous dwellings of New York and Bar Harbor.”

The girl’s eyes were on the deck for some moments before she replied, then she looked across at the dancers, and finally said: 

“I think the ball on the ‘Consternation’ quite equals anything I have ever attended.”

“It is nice of you to say that.  Praise from—­ I won’t name Sir Hubert Stanley—­ but rather Lady Hubert Stanley—­ is praise, indeed.  And now, Miss Amhurst, since I have confessed my fruitless wanderings through Bar Harbor, may I not have the pleasure of calling upon you to-morrow or next day?”

Her eyes were dreamily watching the dancers.

“I suppose,” she said slowly, with the flicker of a smile curving those enticing lips, “that since you were so very friendly with Captain Kempt to-night he may expect you to smoke a cigar with him, and it will possibly happen that Katherine and I, who are very fond of the Captain, may chance to come in while you are there.”